Safety appliance for trains.



J. J. DEGENHARDT.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR TRAINS.

, Argucmou nusn JUNE 14, ms.

Patented Apr. 13, 1915.

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" F llll ms PETERS (30.. PHOTO-LITHOY. WASHING TON D.

I. J. DEGENHARDT.

' v SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR TRAINS.

APPLICATION FILED IUNE 14.1913. 1,134,999. Patented Apr. 13, 1915.

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THE NORRIS PETERS 50.. PHOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGIuN. LI. C.

" Trains, of which the nnirEnsTATE P FTQF E JOHN, J. nnennnnnnrfor EnKvInLE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORIOVE;NE-SIXTEE1\TTH;T0,

EDWARD RQAKEN, onn-si'x'rnnm n T0 cnns'rnn nscnwnn'rz, onn-srxrrnnnrn g'ronannierr 1B. AKEN, AND onn-srxrnnn'rn' TQBENJAMIN r. rARnIsH, Ann orv ELKVILLE, ILLINOIS. p

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that '1, JO N Illinois, have invented certainnew and usefullmprovements in Safety Appliances for followingis a specification; Y

tratedlinthe accompanying drawings, and.

then specificallypointed out in the claims My invention relates to new and useful "improvements in safety appliancesforlrailways and more particularly to attachments for trains adapted to beactuated by danger. signals positioned along the track upon the trains runningpast a signal set. in danger position to vent the air line and' apply the rakes of the train," the principal object of my invention beingto provide an appliance of the abovedescribedcharacter which may. be.operated by meansf of the' 'arms' of the usual semaphores now employed in railway signaling] A further object of my invention'is to-provide in connection 'vvith a valve for venting the air line, a simpleand effective structure for operating the valve-which will be posi:., tively actuatedby the semaphore armwhen the latter is in active position and which will. be held against movement until so actuated.

With'these and other objects'in view, my}

invention will bemore fully described, illuswhich are attached to and form apart of this application.

.In the drawings: Figure 1 is an eleva tional view of a conventional form of loco motive showing my, appliance in position thereon, a portion of the cab being broken away to more clearly show certain details; Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view onthe line 2-2 of Fig. 1, showing themanner of mounting the actuating mechanism for the valve; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the valve and valve actuating mechanism;

Fig. 4: is a similar view, the section being taken at right angles-to that shown in Fig.

3'; Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view of the valvecasing and valve.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description. and indicated in all the views of the drawings bythe same reference characters. 1

'As my improved safety device is intended I J. DnennnAno'r, citizen of the United States,residin'g at E119, ville,'in the county of Jackson and Stateof,

- sAFE'rY APrnrANcE ron- TnAIns.

phore arm or other suitable device j located adjacent the: track, it will be'apparent that. the same may be mounted upon any-portion merely'to'vent l neand applyl aeaa brakesof a train whenzactuated by a sema,-,5 5 v of the train Inasmuchhowever, as the 10:-

comotive is one unit common to all trains I. prefer-to mount the appliance thereon.

. i In Fig.1, afconventionaliform oflocomotive v 1 is indicated at 10 and this locomotive is'pro-- vided withan airline pipe 11 which extends throughout the'entire lengthof the locomotive being provided at one'end with-a coupli'ng 12 .bywhich it maybe connected with the air line of thetrain and at its opposite end with, a second coupling 13 whichmay be' employed when the locomotive. is tobe at-- tachedtothe rearend of a train. I In installi lgmysafety-appliance I provide a branch. 3'

pipe ll which leadsfromthe pipe 11 to a valve 15, the construction of which will be later explained, ,The openinglof this "valve 15 will ventthe airline and apply the brakes and as .a-me'ans foropeningthis alve I'prothenumeral- 16. I

Referring morespecificallyto' Figs. 2-130 5 inclusive, itwill be seen that the valve op.-.

erating mechanism 16 includes a shaft-17, which extends transversely through the :roof

or upperportion of-vthelocomotive cab, be-

ing journaled in suitable bearings 18 carriedv .vide' a mechanism indicated as a whole by I by the cab'and held; against longitudinal.

movementthrough the bearings byiicollars 19 secured upon the shaft by set screws 20. The

ends of the shaft; are squaredor otherwise formed with angular faces and are preferablytapered as shown at21 to receive actuating arms 22 having squared openings in their ends toseat the squaredportion of the shaft. The extreme ends of' the shaft are threaded 'to receive nuts 23 by which. the

actuating arms are locked in place. The

tegrally formed indicating finger 26 which extends. downwardly when the arm 22 extends upwardly.

shaft within the cab carries. a collar 24 secured by a set screw 25 and havlng an 1n-.

Secured, against rotation upon a the intermediate portion of the shaft 17 by akey 27,

is a disk28, this diskbeing eccentrically mounted uponthe shaft. Surrounding this disk a're a pair ofsemicircular castings'29 and 30 forming an eccentric strap for the disk being secured together by bolts 31 passed through perforated ears 32 formed upon the adjacent ends of said casting. The casting 29 is formed with a recess 33 in its inner face and a bore 34 leading from this recess communicates with an enlarged socket 35' formed in a radial extension 36 of the casting. A brake 37 is seated in the recess 33 and has a centering stud 38 which passes through the bore into the socket 35.

A helical spring 39 is positioned in the socket 35 and bears against the end of the centering stud to force the brake into frictional engagement with the peripheral edge of the disk 28, this helical spring being held against lateral movement by projections 40 formed upon the free end of the centering stud and upon the inner wall of the socket forming portion 36 of the eccentric strap. Said portion 36 is provided at one side with a series of longitudinally extending spaced grooves or corrugations 41 adapted to receive the laterally directed terminal 42 of a resilient locking arm 43 which is secured at its opposite end by a screw 44 to the central portion of the disk 28. It will therefore be'seen that both the brake and the resilient locking arm 43 serve'to hold the eccentric strap in a predetermined position with respect to the eccentric disk 28, this position being that which the disk occupies when the arms 22 of the shaft 17 extend vertically upward or when the indicator arm 26 extends downward.

The free end of the extended portion 36 of the eccentric strap member 30 is provided with an internally threaded bore 45 to receive the reduced threaded end of a rod 46, the free end of which is hingedly connected as at 47 to a second rod 48, the free end of which is in turn provided with an internally threaded bore 49 adapted to receive the reduced threaded end 50 of a reciprocating valve stem 51 of the valve 15. This valve stem is journaled in a bearing sleeve 52 carrieod by the front wall 53 of the locomotive ca The valve 15 includes a casing 54 provided at one side with an inlet port 55 to which the free end of the pipe 14 leads and at its other side with an exhaust port 56. The valve stem 51 extends through a stuffing box 57 formed in the rear wall of the valve casing and carries a slide valve 58. This slide valve includes a body forming block 59 through which the inner end of the valve stem 51 is passed, said end being threaded to receive jam nuts 60 by means of which the block is locked against longitudinal movement. A set screw 61 serves to secure the block 59 against rotation upon the valve stem. That wall of the valve casing through which the exhaust or inlet port 56 is formed is plane surfaced and the block 59 carries a plane surfaced plate 62 which is slidable on said casing wall face to either cover the valve opening therethrough or to expose the same according to the position of the valve.

This plate is held in frictional engagement with the valve seat and against movement independently of the block 59 by pins 63 which are slidable'in bores 64 formed in the block and which seat by their ends in sockets 65 formed in the plate, these pins being held in position by helical springs 66 which bear between the outer ends of the pins and screws 67, threaded into the outer ends of the bores 64. The valve stem is so proportioned that when the eccentric and eccentric strap occupy the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings-that is, when the actuating arms of the appliance are in upright position, as shown in Fig. 1, the valve will extend over the outlet port 56 of the valve casing and prevent the escape of air from the air line. i

The ends of the shaft 17 extend a sufli- 1 which figure the operation of my safety appliance will be readily understood, slight description being therefore necessary.

The semaphores wlll be set in danger or safety position in the usual manner and it will be apparent that if theengineer fails to see the signal when set in danger position and attempts to run the train past the same,

the engagement of the actuating arms 22 against the semaphore arms will cause a partial rotation of'the shaft 17 and act through the eccentric disk 28 and eccentric strap to reciprocate the valve stem 51 and open the valve to vent the air line of the train and apply the air brakes.

It will of course be understood that I do not wish to limit .myself to the details of construction set forth as various minor changes, within the scope of the appended claims, may be made at any time, if desired, without in the slightest degree departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a semaphore arm actuated safety appliance for locomotives, the combination with an air brake line, of a vent valve in said line, a rotatable shaft, an arm carried by the shaft and extending in the path of a lowered semaphore arm, an eccentric disk mounted on the shaft, a strap for the disk, an operative connection between the strap and valve stem, and a brake carried by the strap and engaging the disk.

2. In safety appliances for locomotives, a

shaft extending transversely of the locomo tive and provided'at its free ends with up'-' wardly directed arms adapted *for engagement by obstacles located adjacentthe track,

a disk eccentrically keyed upon the shaft, a,

strap surrounding the disk, a spring pressed brake carried by the strap and frictionally engaging the disk, a valve adapted for I con nection withthe air brake line of'the'loco in'otive and having a reciprocating-[valve ,stem, and ahinged connection between the strap and valvestemt;

3. Insafety appliances forlocom'otives, a shaft extending transversely of the locomotive and provided at its freeends with 'upwardly directed arms adapted for engagement obstacles located adjacent the. jtrack, a disk 'eccentricalIykeyed upon the shaft, a strap surrounding the disk, a spring brake for normally holding the eccentric disk and strap against independent move- Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, I

ment.

4. In'safety appliances for locomotivesfa shaft extending transversely of the locomotive and provided at its free ends with upwardly directed arms adapted-for engage ment by obstacles" located adjacent the track,

"a diskecc'entricaHy keyed upQnthe shaft,f"a' fstrap surroundingthe disk, a spring pressed u brake carried by the strap and friction'ally engaging/the disk, avalve "adapted for con f nection with the airjbrake line of the 10:10

motive and having a reciprocating Valve 1 a stem, a-hinged connectionbetween the strap 40 and valve stem, andmeans in addition to the brake for normally holding. theeccentric disk and strapaga-inst independent move- 7 nient, said means including a resilient arm secured-to the eccentric jjdisk and'havin'ga laterally directed terminal seating i n-a groove formed in the strap.

5. In safety appliances'for locomotives, a"v all rotatable shaft having radial arms-adapted for engagement by obstacles located adj'acent the track, a disk eccentrically Y keyedj' upon the shaft,a strap surroundingjthe disk, said strap having a groove, a resilient member secured at one end'centrally of the disk and provided at its opposite end with a. laterally directedte'r'ininalseating in the groove of the strap, avalve adapted for connection j, with the air brake line .of the locomotiveyf and operative connection" between the strap andQvalve. V v p j y 0 In testimony whereof IafiiX myfsi'gnature in presenceof two witnesses. p JOHN J. DEGENHARDTJS s] Witnessesz a ANDREW R; CARTER,

T IOMA-s A. SMELTEN I Washington, D.- c. 

